Selective retention – People tend to remember (forget) information that supports (differs) our attitudes and beliefs.
A motivated person is ready to act—how is influenced by his or her perception of the situation. In marketing, perceptions are more important than reality, because perceptions affect consumers’ actual behavior. Perception is the process by which we select, organize, and interpret information inputs to create a meaningful picture of the world. It depends not only on physical stimuli, but also on the stimuli’s relationship to the surrounding environment and on conditions within each of us. One person might perceive a fast-talking salesperson as aggressive and insincere; another, as intelligent and helpful. Each will respond to the salesperson differently.
SELECTIVE ATTENTION
Attention is the allocation of processing capacity to some stimulus. Voluntary attention is something purposeful; involuntary attention is grabbed by someone or something. It’s estimated that the average person may be exposed to over 1,500 ads or brand communications a day. Because we cannot possibly attend to all these, we screen most stimuli out—a process called selective attention. Selective attention means that marketers must work hard to attract consumers’ notice.
SELECTIVE DISTORTION
Even noticed stimuli don’t always come across in the way the senders intended. Selective distortion is the tendency to interpret information in a way that fits our preconceptions. Consumers will often distort information to be consistent with prior brand and product beliefs and expectations. For a stark demonstration of the power of consumer brand beliefs, consider that in “blind” taste tests, one group of consumers samples a product without knowing which brand it is, while another group knows. Invariably, the groups have different opinions, despite consuming exactly the same product.
SELECTIVE RETENTION
Most of us don’t remember much of the information to which we’re exposed, but we do retain information that supports our attitudes and beliefs. Because of selective retention, we’re likely to remember good points about a product we like and forget good points
about competing products. Selective retention again works to the advantage of strong brands. It also explains why marketers need to use repetition—to make sure their message is not overlooked.
SUBLIMINAL PERCEPTION
The selective perception mechanisms require consumers’ active engagement and thought. A topic that has fascinated armchair marketers for ages is subliminal perception. They argue that marketers embed covert, subliminal messages in ads or packaging.
Consumers are not consciously aware of them, yet they affect behavior. Although it’s clear that mental processes include many subtle subconscious effects, no evidence supports the notion that marketers can systematically control consumers at that level, especially enough to change moderately important or strongly held beliefs.